Giving Up The Game
by AvalonHeights
Summary: How long has it been since you had to fight to survive? What would you do to make sure you lived to see tomorrow? Everything important to you is at stake in the game of life. When it comes to sacrificing everything to save Angel Grove, you may as well give up.
1. Prologue

**Giving Up The Game**

**Summary – **How long has it been since you had to fight to survive? What would you do to make sure you lived to see tomorrow? Everything important to you is at stake in the game of life. When it comes to sacrificing everything to save Angel Grove, you may as well give up.

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

In the outskirts of the California desert, amongst the sandy dunes and the dusty winds stood a moselium-esque base. No one that had ever traversed through the cliffs and dunes had been able to find it. Those that had ventured near it had been turned away by an unseen force, a magnetic feeling that they shouldn't be there. No one was able to get inside. No one human anyway. There were many different planets and life forms out there that the humans didn't know about. It was some of those beings that created the base.

The Command Center.

What looked like an abandoned relic from the outside housed a morphological being and an animatronic robot that had joined forces to defeat the forces of evil. It was there that Zordon, the morphological being, a sage from Eltar, and Alpha 5, the animatronic robot from Edenoi, watched over the powers that would be what could defeat Rita Repulsa once and for all.

"Zordon, look, the power coins are glowing!" Alpha stood over the display case that held the six golden coins, each housing the image of an extinct animal. Four of them held the image of dinosaurs; the tyrannosaurs rex, the triceratops, the pterodactyl, and the stegosaurus. The other two held images of a saber-tooth tiger and a mastodon. Each of the coins was glowing in its own respective color, red, blue, pink, orange, yellow, and black.

As Alpha watched, the radiance continued to crescendo and reduce in timely intervals.

"We must be getting closer to the return of Rita," Zordon said. He gazed at Alpha out of his power chamber before turning his gaze to the power coins as well. He pressed his lips in a thin line, silence filling the command center, the sounds of control panels and power generators filled the otherwise silence. "It's just as I feared, Alpha, she's getting closer to earth."

"Everything should be fine as long as her space dumpster isn't opened, Zordon," Alpha reminded him. He turned from the power coins to face his friend. "Do you really think that it'll happen?"

"We must be prepared in case it does come to that, Alpha," Zordon said. "The powers seem ready to choose their successors, please turn to the viewing globe. These are the ones that we may have to call to our aid if the time comes." Alpha turned and did as he was told. He looked into the viewing globe and watched as an image of a teenager in red, who was doing some bench presses, appeared on screen.

"Teenagers Zordon?" Alpha cried. "Anything but that! They won't know what to do?"

"You mustn't underestimate them, Alpha," Zordon chided.

"But can we really trust them to be able to use the powers?" Alpha's hands started to wave around. "Ay yi yi yi yi! What if they can't stand up to Rita's power? Then the powers that be will be gone forever!"

"Have faith Alpha, they can do it," Zordon said. The two turned their attention back to the viewing globe to the teenager in red. "Jason Scott is a born leader; he has the empathy, the drive, and the courage to lead the rangers in battle."

The viewing globe then focused on a teenager dressed in blue, dusting his glasses off on his shirt before leaning over a smoking beaker. "Billy Cranston; smart, intuitive, and holds lots of potential. He is a born strategist."

Now the viewing globe showed a teenage girl in yellow who was sitting, listening to her parents as they talked to her about something. "Trini Kwan; calm, rational, and dependable. She is fiercely loyal and will do what it takes to help her friends."

The image switched to one of a teenage boy dressed in black, sitting at the counter of a juice bar, grinning as he passed a milkshake back and forth between his hands. He accidentally knocked the drink over, but smile, shrugged, and grabbed a napkin to clean it up. "Zachary Taylor; fun loving, energetic, and a friend to all. He can be as serious as he is outgoing and knows when to exhibit both traits. A good part to the team."

His image morphed into one of a teenage girl decked out in pink, arms laden down with shopping bags. She looked to be on cloud nine as she headed into another store and started to look at dresses. "Kimberly Hart; compassionate, courteous, and determined, she won't let anyone put her down and has a strength that is yet to be seen."

The viewing globe then showed a teenage girl with dark hair, dark eyes, and wearing orange shorts along with a white tank top and a leather jacket. She said something to a younger girl that was by her side, smiled, and left an apartment. Meeting up with people outside, her smile dropped and the group started to walk down the street. "And finally, Avalon Mitchell. Ambitious, honest, and self confident, she will round out the team when the time is right."

Alpha let out a sound of surprise when it showed one of Avalon's friends breaking a car window. "Zordon! She can't be part of the-"

"Don't judge a book by its cover, Alpha," Zordon reminded her. "Seeing isn't always believing. Sometimes it takes a longer time for those to completely come to their potential." The viewing globe dimmed and the images faded away to nothing.

"Ok, Zordon," Alpha said. "I trust you."

"Thank you, Alpha," Zordon said gratefully. "We're going to need to put our trust in everyone if Rita is going to be defeated once and for all."

* * *

**A/N:** Like others have done, this is a re-telling of the show with an extra ranger. However, this story is more original (like my other story All the Blame) and is a darker version of the show. That being said there are gonna be some dark themes in here as well as cursing and violence, just a warning.

This story re-introduces Avalon and Bailey and their back-story is mostly the same compared to _All The Blame_, but a few things are different. Also, this and _All the Blame _are going to be updated only on the weekends.

Please let me know what you think so far. Also, I have a new poll up on my profile.

-**Avalon**


	2. How have you been?

**Chapter 01**

* * *

There was a lot of space to cover out in the universe. Many planets that had been undiscovered, stars that had been unseen, galaxies that had been untouched. But the moon was different. There had been people that walked on the moon, it had been tied to the high and low tides on earth, the eclipses were watched by millions when the time came and may believe that the moon had wish granting powers. However, that wasn't the only thing that the moon was good for. It was a place that held a great being of evil and had contained that evil for the last 10,000 years.

Until now.

There had been a mission to the moon, to retrieve space rocks and space and test it to see if there was any life forms in it or to have a place to potentially create a new place to live. The astronauts had been doing what they were supposed to, getting samples and taking pictures of the view around them. They had been ready to go when they stumbled upon the space dumpster. The very same dumpster that had been isolated to keep the utmost evil being away from earth and the surrounding planets. If they had been taken over, the very state of the universe would be destroyed.

Unfortunately the astronauts didn't know that.

As they approached the dumpster, it came into focus in front of them. The astronaut on the left had nudged his partner on the arm and pointed towards it. "What the hell is that?" He demanded once they came upon it. He bent at the knees and looked it over, taking in the rusty exterior and the rouge jewel that sat in the center.

"Looks like a dumpster," his partner replied. "What the fuck would a space dumpster be doing on the moon?" He reached up to scratch his forehead, his hand bumping the protective bubble that shielded his face. "Hell, why would a dumpster be sitting on the moon?"

"Maybe Armstrong and then left their trash here," the first one joked, chuckling to himself.

"Let's check it out," the second one said. He crouched by his partner's side and, grasping the lid, the two slowly pulled it off of the dumpster. As the grinding of rust on rust dissipated a brilliant flash of white light appeared in front of them. The astronauts fell back and looked up as four beings stood in front of them all laughing evilly. They weren't sure what they were…humans? Monsters? Aliens? No matter what they are, fear took over the astronauts leapt to their feet and raced away as fast as their suits would allow them to go.

The four morphological beings continued to laugh, reveling in their newfound freedom. They were Baboo, Finster, Squatt, and Goldar. Babboo, the blue skinned hobgoblin-like creature walked over to the dumpster and leaned into it. "Wake up, Rita!" He called. "We're finally free!"

And at that moment, popping her head out of the space dumpster was Rita Repulsa. The alien witch stretched her arms over her head and looked around. Her eyes narrowed as she looked around, taking in everything. Her eyes moved towards earth and the most vile and malicious grin slid onto her face. She titled her head back and laughed, her malevolent mirth echoing through the space around them. She locked her eyes on Earth as her laughter subsided. She clutched her wand tightly in her hands.

She was back and she was going to continue her reign of terror…starting with the destruction of earth. If the other morphological beings in space didn't know that she was back, she was going to let them know now. The decimation of that planet was going to get the message across loud and clear.

* * *

"Bailey!" Avalon called as she walked through the apartment, taking in the empty cupboards. With a loud sigh, she walked over to the pantry and looked inside as well. Nothing. Not even a little crumb. Worriedly, Avalon placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head back towards the ceiling, wondering what to do. "No worries, Av, you've dealt with this before," she murmured, accent thick in her ears. Turning on her heel, she walked over to the counter and started to flip through the envelopes.

Bills. Bills. And more bills.

The rent was due too.

"Bailey!" Avalon called again. Pushing her long, dark hair behind her shoulders she turned towards the entrance to the kitchen, listening as footsteps headed her way. Her dark brown eyes surveyed the colorless apartment. It was fit for four, but only two lived there. The walls were pretty bare apart from a few pictures that had been set up of their family. Though it resembled an apartment that was set up for a tour, it was spotless; the only thing that showed that anyone lived there.

"What' sup, Av?" Bailey Mitchell, Avalon's eleven year old sister, appeared around the corner. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at her sister impatiently. "I'm working on a science project."

Avalon's eyes narrowed as she gazed at her sister. "It's not another spore is it?"

"No worries, Av." Bailey waved a hand. "It won't be anything that could potentially poison or harm anyone else." Her eyes shifted. "I made sure of that this time." Avalon rolled her eyes. "What'd you call me for? I was in the middle of something."

"We don't have any food," Avalon explained, lowering her voice in seriousness. Bailey's eyes turned downcast and she lightly kicked at the ground. Avalon reached over to the leather jacket that was sitting on the back of a chair. "So I'm going to go out and-"

"I know where you're going!" Bailey snapped. Avalon lifted an eyebrow at her sister's attitude, but allowed her to continue. "Av, you're such a boofhead. These guys…they're not good for you to be hanging out with. You keep getting in trouble and-"

"-And we get food on the table, the bills paid, and we can live comfortably," Avalon reminded her. "Don't be such a yobbo. I know what I'm doing." Avalon reached out a hand and mussed her sister's hair. "Everything'll be ok, Bay, I promise." She reached out her pinkie finger and Bailey gave a small smile, hooking hers around her sister's. "Keep the door locked and don't answer if anyone comes by. I'll knock twice before using my key so you know that it's me at the door when I get back."

"Ok." Bailey nodded glumly. "See you, Av."

"Stay out of trouble," Avalon called as she walked to the front door.

"I should be telling _you_ that," Bailey shot back, sticking her tongue out at her sister. Avalon stuck her tongue out over her shoulder before slipping out the front door. Avalon walked down a flight of stairs and went through the lobby of the apartment building. Once she walked out the front door of the apartment complex, she walked down the street and over to a group of teenagers waiting for her.

"Finally you got here, Pinkie," the tallest blonde said. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his own leather jacket, his eyes moving over the rest of the group that was with him. With his movement, the bottom of his shirt lifted, revealing the hilt of a switch blade. "Is everyone ready?"

Avalon and the others nodded.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Kim, c'mon we've got to get going!" Trini called, looking at her watch. She rested her chin in her hand, looking towards the door to a very pink bedroom. "We're meeting the guys, remember?"

"Like, I'll be out in a minute, Trini," Kimberly called back. Trini could hear the sound of make-up bottles being pushed around, caps being opened, and water running. "I just need to make sure that I, like, got my make-up right for the party this weekend." A second later the door opened and Kimberly stepped out, the light pink dress she was holding against her body brushed her legs and her short brown hair swinging around her shoulders. She turned to her best friend with a smile before placing her hands by her face. "Now, which side do you like better?"

Kimberly turned this way and that as Trini studied her face. The left half of her face was more muted, going more with the natural look. A light swipe of blush was on her cheeks, along with the light pink eye shadow, tiny bit of mascara, and light colored lip gloss. The right side of her face was darker, with a look that was more for the nightlife, with dark pink, almost red eye shadow, a line of eye liner, and dark lipstick.

Trini smiled as she shook her head back and forth. "You look great either way, Kim," she reminded her.

"Thanks Trin." Kimberly beamed. She turned to the mirror that was resting over her desk and puckered her lips as she studied her reflection. She ran her fingers through her hair for a moment before shrugging and standing up. With a light giggle, she turned back to Trini. "Both look great, I might use both outfits and change in the middle of the night."

"Kim!" Trini grinned as she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. She reached a hand down and scratched her bare stomach before looking at her watch again.

Kimberly noticed her movement. "I know, I know." She held up her hands before backing up to the bathroom. "Don't have a freak attack. I'll just wash this off and we can get going." Kimberly turned on her heel and flounced off into the bathroom.

Trini decided to use the spare time to practice her Mantis-style kung-fu. It was proving to be more difficult than she originally anticipated. But she was coming along with it well. She loved the way her body moved in the slow movements as she concentrated on her breathing and perfecting the moves. Everything was connected in that style of kung-fu; her body, her breath, the earth, the energies around her.

"Ok, I'm ready!" Kimberly walked back into the room and leaned against the doorway, and patiently watched as Trini finished up her routine. The slowness was a way to perfect the moves and even though there were times that she didn't do things perfectly, the practice always paid off. "You're starting to get really good, Trini," she congratulated her friend.

"Thanks." Trini smiled warmly as she lowered her arms. "It's a lot of hard work, but I'm really enjoying it." She put her arm around Kimberly's shoulder and the two left the latter's bedroom. Kimberly called goodbye to her mother before the two left the house.

As they walked to meet up with their friends, their conversations ranged from anything to everything. From the party that Kimberly was going to that weekend, to the family gathering that Trini was going to the next weekend. From homework to school projects. From clubs to organizations the two were a part of. From friends to boys. Though their personalities were different, Trini being more conscious about the earth as well as loyalty and Kimberly being more conscious of being social and shopping, there was no doubt that the two of them really were best friends. As they turned and walked into a nearby neighborhood, down the street, the caught a glimpse of a teenager in red and a teenager in black sparring in a driveway.

Kimberly nudged Trini's arm and pointed. Trini followed her gaze and her smile widened. Jason and Zack were always up to something energetic, whether it was playing a sport, sparing, dancing, or working out, the two never seemed to sit still.

"So who do you think is going to win this time?" Kimberly gracefully leapt up onto a bench they were passing by and held her arms out, expertly balancing, utilizing her gymnastics trained muscles to keep herself upright. When she reached the end of the make-shift balance beam, she lifted her arms and did a perfect flip forward, landing on her feet. She threw her arms up into the air, completing the move.

"Nice job, Kimberly!" Trini grinned and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "That was really good."

"Thanks, Trini." Kimberly replied.

The two girls approached their friends as they continued to circle around each other. Jason held his hands up in the perfect tae-kwon-do style as Zack was bouncing around a lot more, practicing what he called hip hop kido. The two girls watched as Jason and Zack threw punches and kicks, acting and reacting to each other's movements. In the end, Jason managed to grab Zack's arm out of the arm and gently put his fist into Zack's side, signaling the end of the fight. Though Zack lost, the smile didn't drop from his face as the two clasped hands and came together to high-five.

"Great job this time, Zack," Jason said with a light laugh. "Good recovery, too. You're really getting the hang of this."

"What can I say, I have a good teacher," Zack replied.

"Careful," Kimberly called, teasingly. She placed her hand on her hips as she smiled at her two guy friends. "You don't want to make his head bigger than it already is." Her smile widened as Jason rolled his eyes. He wasn't offended by it, the two traded jokes like that all the time.

All of a sudden, Kimberly and Trini felt something land on their shoulders and they turned around to see Bulk and Skull, the resident bullies standing behind them. Kimberly's upper lip curled and she turned her head to face Trini, who looked just as disgusted as she did. Trini faced forward and looked at Jason and Zack, who appeared to be as irritated as the girls were.

"So what about that double date that we were planning?" Bulk asked, leering at Kimberly.

"We already told you guys, we're not interested," Trini said. She tried to push Skull's arm off of her shoulder, but he had a tight grip on her. Looking at Kimberly out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Kimberly wasn't able to get away, either.

"So, please, leave us alone," Kimberly added.

"Oh come on, we're sure that you'll have a good time once you get to know us," Bulk added. He brought his chin forward and rested it on Kimberly's shoulder. She winced and pulled her head away from him. "I mean, there's enough of me to go around if that's the problem."

"Yeah," Skull added. "There's enough of him to go around."

Zack's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. "You heard the girls, leave them alone," he said.

"Don't worry about us, Zack, we can handle them," Trini reassured him. Jason, though, hadn't moved throughout the ordeal. He continued to move his eyes back and forth over Kimberly, Bulk, Skull, and Trini. He knew what the girls could do, they could handle themselves. But he still had the feeling of wanting to help them as much as Zack wanted to.

"Yeah, they can _handle_ us," Bulk continued. His leer turned into a long gaze as he looked Kimberly up and down. Reaching out a hand, Bulk grabbed Kimberly's ass causing her to let out a shriek of surprise and fury. Trini must have fallen to the same fate of Skull because, while she didn't let out a cry like Kimberly did, her face clouded and at the same time, the two flipped Bulk and Skull over their shoulders and onto the ground, where they lay, dazed, staring at the sky.

Jason smiled as Zack laughed. Kimberly and Trini smirked down at the bullies. "You should've joined Jason's karate class. It would have been less humiliating," Kimberly said.

Skull moved to get to his feet, but laid back down, the dazed look still in his eyes. Kimberly and Trini stepped over Bulk and Skull and stepped up next to their friends. "Salutations comrades!" They all turned to see Billy Cranston walking over to them, waving, a cheerful smile on his face. The other teenagers smiled back at him, walking over to meet him.

"Hey Billy, how's it going?" Zack asked, slapping him on the shoulder.

Billy stumbled a little, then fixed his glasses as they threatened to fall off his nose. "Good. I'm glad I managed to catch up to you all." His eyes shifted behind his four friends and over to Bulk and Skull. "Did I miscue something of the upmost importance?"

Kimberly, Jason, and Zack gave him blank looks.

Trini chuckled. "He asked if he missed anything important." Beside her, Billy nodded.

"Nothing _too_ important," Kimberly said, shaking her head. "C'mon!" The group continued to walk down the street, leaving Bulk and Skull behind.

* * *

Rita Repulsa was a quick worker. She didn't like to leave anything to chance when she was involved in something. So after being released from her space dumpster, she quickly went to work reclaiming her moon place. It had been so long since she had been there. Everything was the same…but dustier. Just the way she liked it. The doom and gloom was what she thrived for and soon Earth was going to face the same fate. Standing at the balcony of her palace, she looked through the high-powered telescope that she had set up. It was the best thing she could use to be able to see how Earth worked. If she could spy on its inhabitants, she could figure out their secrets and eliminate them that much quicker.

Smirking, Rita turned from her telescope and addressed her henchmen. "Finster, start making the putty patrollers. The sooner we start capturing these…_humans_ the sooner we can start to slay them and the life force of Earth!" She threw her head back and started to cackle as her henchmen did his bidding.

"I'll take them down to Earth and start making it all yours," Goldar said. Rita smiled and turned back to her view of Earth.

It was only a matter of time.

* * *

"So who's paying when we get to Ernie's?" Zack asked. He rubbed his hands together. "Whoever it is, I hope you're ready because I'm ready for that monster sundae that Ernie's been promising me."

"Ernie said that he had been working on a new desert at the Youth Center," Kimberly explained with a laugh. "And he said that Zack could be the first to try it out. I heard that it has thirty different ice cream flavors alone. And that's not including the chocolate syrup, the whipped cream, the sprinkles and cherries that go along with it," she added. She reached out and poked Zack's stomach. "I don't know how you do it, I'd love to be able to eat as much as you do and not worry about gaining weight."

"Well, you look good already, Kim, you don't have to worry about it," Jason reassured her.

"Thanks, Jase." She smiled warmly at him.

"Anyway, Billy, you missed a good demonstration from Jason and Zack with their martial arts earlier this afternoon," Trini said. "They're getting really good. You should really think about trying one of Jason's classes. I know that you're going to do very well."

"I don't know," Billy shrugged, looking at his feet. "I've tried once before, but…it didn't go over well." He had become too discouraged quickly, watching as everyone else managed to get the movements at a faster speed than he did. He hadn't gone back since there, wanting to study more about it first.

"For your first try, you did really well," Jason reassured him. He reached out and placed a hand on Billy's shoulder, now walking alongside him. He smiled at his blue clad friend. "You don't rely on strength like others. You rely on your wits and your mental capacity and it really shows. It's very admirable."

Billy smiled back.

"Yo, guys, maybe we should go another way." Zack suddenly slowed.

The others turned to follows his gaze and saw, down the street, that a group of teenagers in leather jackets were hanging out on the corner, talking and laughing with each other. They seemed to be congratulating each other on something. The blonde, the one that looked be the leader, finished passing stuff out to the other members of the group before lifting a cigarette to his mouth. He lit it and blew out a steam of smoke before smiling and nodding at the others. One of the guys that was standing beside him, pointed over to the teenagers. The group turned around and Trini frowned when she recognized one of them.

"Isn't that Avalon Mitchell?" She asked under her breath. "She's in our class, right?"

"Yeah, she just transferred to our school at the end of last week," Kimberly agreed. "She's in our English class and a couple other classes too."

"What's she doing with them, though?" Zack lifted his chin towards them. "They don't particularly look friendly."

Jason nodded, but continued to lead the rest of his friends over to the ground. When they approached, the blonde took another drag of the cigarette and looked over at the group. "Did you want something?" He asked. "Or do you just like to stare?"

"We're just trying to get by," Jason said. "We don't want any trouble." His eyes moved over the group going from Chase, to the brunette boy that stood by his side, probably his right hand man, to the blonde girl standing behind him, to the blonde boy next to her, then resting on Avalon. He did recognize her from school and she must have done the same, for she turned to the blonde, shaking her head.

"Chase, leave em' alone," she said in her thick Australian accent. "They're just trying to get by."

Chase's eyes never left Jason's, but he spoke to Avalon. "Didn't think you'd ever get soft, Pinkie."

"I'm not going soft!" Her eyes flashed. "We got what we came for, so let's go." She nodded at the others and they nodded back before starting down the opposite sidewalk. Chase finally took his glance away from Jason and his friends and started to follow them. "See you in school, I guess," She said before starting to follow them.

"Avalon!" Kimberly called after her. The dark haired teen turned back to her, placing her hands into the pockets of her orange jean shorts. "How's school going for you?" She flashed her a warm smile. "It must've been hard to transfer in the middle of the year."

Avalon raised and lowered her right shoulder in a shrug. "Not really," she said. "I've lived in Angel Grove for a while, my family and I moved from Oz a couple of years ago. I've been homeschooled since then and…here I am."

"So, your friends seem nice," Zack added. "Real winners."

"Oh yeah, couldn't you just see the smile on Chase's face?" Avalon rolled her eyes. She turned to leave, but stopped when the ground started to rumble. Those that lived in California were used to earthquakes, but this one felt different. "What the fuck was that?" Avalon turned back to face the other teenagers, her arms outstretched in a comical interpretation of an airplane.

"A seismic wave that signifies the release of energy from the earth's crust!" Billy said as the shaking continued.

"An earthquake!" Trini reiterated.

The ground started to shake harder, knocking the group this way and that as they tried to keep their footing. Once they were knocked to the ground, they tried to get back to their feet, but they were knocked back down to the ground once more. All of a sudden, they could feel a tingling feeling start in their feet before a rush of energy went through their whole bodies.

"What's going on?" Kimberly cried.

"Everyone hang on!" Jason replied.

The six teenagers were lifted off their feet and disappeared into the air in flashes of colorful light.

* * *

"I got them Zordon," Alpha said as he turned away from the control panel. He walked over to the display case that held the power coins watching as the colorful glows started to increase in size and tempo. "They should be arriving in seconds." He turned back to Zordon. "Ay yi yi yi yi yi. I hope this works!"

"Have faith, Alpha," Zordon merely replied.

Alpha and Zordon turned their attention to the area in front of the viewing globe as a scream echoed through the Command Center and the six teenagers fell to the ground in front of them. Alpha glanced back at Zordon before cautiously walking over to them. Kimberly, Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini, and Avalon slowly looked around as they headed towards Alpha.

"Where are we?" Zack asked the question they'd all been thinking out loud.

"Better question is, how did we get here?" Jason contradicted.

"I think we already _know_ how we got here, mate," Avalon said. Her stomach still felt a little queasy from the ride that they had just taken.

"Welcome!" Alpha said as he walked over to the group. "Welcome humans, to the Command Center." He looked up at Zordon, who nodded, and then turned back to them. "I'm Alpha 5. That's Zordon." He continued to look at them. "We summoned you here because we need your help. You're the only ones that can help us."

"With what?" Zack raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me, but will someone, like, _please_ give me a sign with his, because I'm, like, totally confused," Kimberly said, shaking her head. She gazed up at Zordon with awe. She had never seen a floating head before apart from Halloween when the tricks were done very well. This seemed to be too real and that was just as terrifying.

"Earth us under attack and we contacted you all to help save it," Zordon said. His eyes moved over to the display case. "The Power chose the six of you to save it," he corrected himself. "You all have the ability to do greater things that you think."

"Yeah, right!" Zack laughed. "If that were the case, then I'd be getting an A in math."

"If you just applied yourself, it's possible," Billy insisted.

Trini raised a hand, getting back to the subject. "Save the Earth from what?" She asked. "What does any of this have to do with us?"

"As I've said before, the Power has chosen you all, you didn't choose the power," Zordon said. "It's up to you to decide whether or not you choose to take it. The Earth is under attack by Rita Repulsa. An evil space witch hell bent on destroying this planet and everyone that inhabits it. She won't stop until it's utterly destroyed and she moves on to the next one."

At that moment, the glowing power coins disappeared from the display case and large, bulky objects appeared on the fronts of the teenagers' pants. The all picked it up and looked it over. The glowing had subsided, though they all felt an insurmountable amount of…energy run through them.

"The fuck is this," Avalon murmured.

"My thoughts exactly," Zack agreed. Avalon glanced at him, but then lowered her gaze to the object in her hand. The power coin that rested in the middle of it resembled a stegosaurus.

"Those are power morphers," Zordon explained. "They will aid you when you're in danger. If you bring them to the sky and call out the names that go along with them, you'll take on the power of the dinosaurs that inhabit those coins and use them to aid you in battle." He looked at each of them in turn. "Each of you have different attributes that make you able to take on these powers. Jason holds the power of the Tyrannosaurus as he is bold and powerful. Zachary is clever and brave and that carries over into every part of his life, the Mastodon is under his reign. Kimberly is graceful and smart, willing to help others and is compassionate, just like the Pterodactyl. Billy is patient and wise, a strategist that knows when smarts are better than strength, not unlike the Triceratops. Trini is fearless and agile, willing to think things through and to face danger whenever is needed; the saber-tooth tiger is hers. Avalon is impulsive and caring, not allowing anything to pass her by when the chance comes her way, but willing to protect her own, much like the Stegosaurus."

The teenagers all looked at each other and up at Zordon in awe, allowing everything he said to sink in. "If you all work together in a time of need, the zords under your command will as well, creating the MegaZord which will aid you in your quest to defeat Rita."

"Power Morphers and Megazords?" Zack shook his head. "This is too much bullcrap. There's no way that any of this is real." Alpha watched in dismay as the teenagers all slowly started to shake their heads and walked away from the Command Center. "Check you later." Jason, being the last one to move, hesitated as he gazed at Zordon and Alpha.

Finally, he turned and followed the others, casting one last glance over his shoulder.

"Oh no, Zordon! What are we going to do now?" Alpha raised his hands to his head. "If they don't take the power-"

"The power will protect them, Alpha," Zordon said. "No matter what. But now, it's up to them to decide if they really want to take it."

Alpha shook his head.

He hoped Zordon knew what he was doing…

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait, but this was the first part of Day of the Dumpster. I wanted to have a chapter that was a bit…normal before the fighting actually starts. Like I've said before, this is a more original/dark telling of the show as I hope I've portrayed well.

Also, I was thinking of drawing pictures of Avalon and Bailey is anyone wanted to see them.

-**Avalon**


	3. Nice to see you again

**Chapter 02**

* * *

Kimberly let out a sigh of annoyance as she stepped out of the Command Center with the rest of her friends and Avalon. Nothing but dirt and dust greeted her in a vast expansion of nothing. The outskirts at the outskirts of Angel Grove were a feat to see when you were in the city and sometimes people went camping out there. But she was never one to particularly like the idea of it much, there was no bathroom, no running water, no electricity, and no civilization. Now they were dumped in this place with no way to get back without having to walk the whole way. Pushing her hair back behind her ears, she made a whining sound of annoyance.

"He could have, liked, arranged for someone to pick us up," she complained. "All of this sun, wind, and dirt is doing nothing for my complexion." She raised a hand and gingerly started to run her fingers over her cheek. "I'm, like, starting to dry out already."

"Quit complaining," Avalon muttered as she strolled by Kimberly, kicking up dust as she went. Her dark eyes were narrowed against the sun light. "Things could be a lot worse, such as no way at all to get back. You got feet, use em', yeah?"

Kimberly stuck her tongue out at Avalon's back and continued to pout, following her friends. _I'm definitely going to lock myself in the bathroom and have a full body scrub when I get home._

* * *

"Teenagers?!" Rita turned away from her telescope, and clenched her hand into a fist. "Teenagers?! Zordon must really believe that he can beat me this time if he's out to send some hormonal freaks to do his dirty work for him." Turning on her heel, she jabbed her wand over towards Finster, who was moving quickly with a ball of clay, picking it up and dropping it on a wooden slab over and over again. "Finster! Hurry up, taking over the world shouldn't have to take all day!" She jabbed him in the side with her wand. "Unless you want to be wasted along with the rest of those cowards down there."

"I'm going as fast as I can, Rita," Finster replied, taking off chunks of clay and rolling them into individual pieces. "I'm molding the last of the putty patrollers as we speak, it's not going to be much longer, your royalness." Though she was threatening to vaporize him, as she had the capacity to do so, he was still working hard to please her. They had been locked in the space dumpster so long, Rita's anger and evil intentions had increased over time, so much so that he wouldn't be surprised if she took her magic wand and found a way to blow up the earth herself.

He smiled, imagining the smoking remains of Earth floating through space, the carnage of the human inevitably blown apart, the blood, the entrails, and the bodies that would be floating around as a sort of badge that proved that Rita had been there and that she really was back and more evil than ever.

"Don't worry, Rita, if these ones don't work, we can always make more," Finster continued. "I want nothing other than to see you happy, your badness."

Rita grinned. She watched as Finster finished molding the putty patrollers and sent them through the monster machine. After a few seconds of the pipes shaking, smoke pouring out of one end, and a gauge needle flopping back and forth, an army of gray, rock-hard, putty patrollers were standing in front of Rita, waiting for their orders to be sent down to Earth and destroy whatever came their way.

* * *

Jason frowned as he slowly slid done the face of a large rock. He turned around, watching, raising his arms in a spotting stance to help whomever had trouble. Everyone had been quiet since they had left the Command Center, he had been. He had been thinking about everything that Zordon and Alpha had told them. Maybe they had made a mistake by not taking them seriously? Who knows what could happen if they were really the ones that were supposed to help save Angel Grove and Earth? What would happen if they didn't decide to take the powers that they were given? Jason ran his hand over the power morpher that sat on the front of his pants.

Maybe there really was something to it…

"Guys," he started hesitantly. "Maybe we should have listened to them more. Who else did they choose to do this for them? We were chosen for a reason." He sopped walking and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think we should have at least listened to what they had to say instead of blowing them off."

"Jase, you heard what they had to say," Zack reminded him. "And they're a bunch of nut jobs if you ask me. There's no way that we could have the power to stop some evil space witch, or whatever, if there really is one."

"I mean, do you really think that we could have done something?" Trini asked. "Hypothetically speaking, say they were telling the truth. What makes you think that we're the ones that can do this? Why not someone else more qualified?"

"Yeah, like the military?" Kimberly added.

"Am I the only one that was stuck on the fact that we were talking to a fucking floating head?" Zack demanded, throwing his hands into the air. "I mean, for all we know, this was some sort of trick that they could have been playing on us."

"It'd be a fucking elaborate trick, mate," Avalon commented.

"Actually, it could be possible," Billy said. He pushed his glasses up his nose, looking earnestly around the group. "What with the technology that we have today, and with the advancements that we're currently making, there's no intention to say that all of this wasn't generated ages ago as some sort of a government facility that would be used as a backup in case something went wrong or the city was endangered."

"But a floating head?" Zack demanded.

"Probably magnets or some sort of visual illusion," Billy said calmly, in contrast to Zack's heated expression.

"I'm just saying that maybe we should have given them a chance instead of walking out on them," Jason said. He shook his head. "I didn't mean to make such a debate about it. If there was a chance that we could save Angel Grove from something and we didn't take it, would you feel guilty if-"An explosion drowned him out.

The shockwave ripped over the surrounding area, sending the teenagers to the ground. Rocks disintegrated around them; the ground shook and heaved, anything that was not secured instantly was flung around, tossing the rangers with them. They were flung to the ground with so much force that it knocked the window out of them. As they fought for breath, they saw gray figures wind milling around them, waving their arms and jumped close to them before backing away.

Trini sucked in a sharp intake of air and released it before breathing in once more. "What was that?" She managed to gasp.

"Better question, who the hell are these guys?" Avalon was now up on her knees, her hands clenched into fists as she watched the putties circling around them. She lashed out an arm and struck one in the chest when it came too close. She let out a loud curse and shook out her hand before getting hit in the face, knocking her back to the ground.

The rangers all sprang into action against the putties. However, the putties were stronger than they anticipated. They weren't like normal opponents in a refereed match; the rangers with hit in the face, arms, stomach, and backs, each hit feeling like a ton of bricks had been heaved at them. Billy was the first to get captured, not being the strongest fighter, he was quickly outnumbered by the putties and was flung to the ground as a group started to move around him, blocking any way of escape. Kimberly didn't far that much better, her gymnastic skills allowed her to flip and twist and turn every couple of ways to knock the putties of balance. She got a few kicks in, but was soon heaved over to where Billy was. Trini, using her mantis style kun-fu knocked back a few of the putties and though her hands were sore, had a satisfied feeling of being able to defend herself before she, too, was defeated. Zack, using his hip-hop kido, and Avalon using an even lesser form of fighting, that resembled street fighting, fought as hard as they could, but were soon outnumbered with the five putties that had converged on the two of them.

Leaving it up to Jason, he did his best as anyone that knew and religiously practiced martial arts could. All of his practices of where to strike an opponent and not fight unless you thought you could win were running through his mind as he continued to strike with his hands and feet, using his elbows and knees when he had to. A feeling of dread fell through his body as he was grabbed by the arms by two putties. He tried to wriggle free, but they had a tight grip on his arm. Lifting a foot, he lashed out a putty that was converging on him, however, they grabbed onto his leg, leaving him hopping on the other. With a cry of "kiya" he lifted his other foot and twisted it over the putty's neck, fling it to the ground. But the two putties that held onto his arms were stronger than him and they lifted him up, throwing him on top of the others.

The six teenagers huddled together as the putties continued to circle them. Avalon, breathing heavily and bleeding from the side of her mouth, leapt to her feet. "You're going to regret doing that!" She spat, her eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. She started towards the putties for another round, but Billy's voice stopped her.

"That wouldn't be wise, Avalon!" He called. "They're too strong for us!"

"Do you just expect me to sit here?" She shot back.

"No!" Jason got to his feet as well. Determination leaked out of his body, complete from his stance to the expression on his face. He knew what they were going to do, they _had _to do this. Zordon and Alpha were telling the truth, they were being attacked by Rita Repulsa and they were going to take over the city and the world if he and the others didn't do something soon. He was _not_ going to let that happen. "We're not going to let them get away with this." He reached down and picked up his power morpher. "These are supposed to give us power," he murmured and glanced up at the others. They all grabbed onto their morphers as well, though Zack still looked a little skeptical.

Jason nodded at them and raised his morpher to the sky.

"Stegosaurus!" Avalon called.

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

Once they morphed into the power rangers, they didn't have much time to celebrate as Alpha, under Zordon's command, immediately teleported them down to Angel Grove, where Goldar, true to his word, was wreaking havoc with more putty patrollers. The rangers sprang into action, using their newfound abilities to defeat the putties easier than they had before.

* * *

Rita screamed with fury and started to storm around the lab as Finster, Babboo, and Squatt did their best to stay out of her way. When Rita was angry, you didn't want to tell her something that would upset her even further or else you would suffer the consequences. "FINSTER! WHY ARE THE PUTTIES BEING DEFEATED SO EASILY?"

Her three henchmen cowered in fear as she continued to scream and berate them. She waved her wand around and they shifted out of the path of it, knowing what could happen if she got angry enough. They had seen her at her worst, they had seen her completely obliterate other evil space creatures and morphological beings just because of the way that they talked to her or implied that she wasn't good enough to take over a planet. The same fate almost fell to Zedd before he had banished her into taking over Earth, before she had been trapped into the space dumpster. Who knows what would have happened if Rita and Zedd had gotten into a battle to see who was the superior…

"If you want something done, you'll have to do it yourself!" Rita reminded herself, twisting and turning her wand in her hands.

Babboo studied the wand a long moment before venturing to speak. "Your highness, why don't you just use your wand and make Goldar bigger?" He suggested. "The rangers will have no way to defend themselves against him and the putties."

"Yeah," Squatt agreed. "And if he places himself correctly, we'll be able to watch him make power ranger pancakes!" The image of flattened meat sacks that used to resemble power rangers made Rita slowly smile. How satisfying would it be to hear their screams be cut off? Their bones cracking would be music to her ears, and seeing the aftermath of their bodies completely flattened to be one with the ground? Priceless. Red had always been one of her favorite colors, but the red that was the blood of her enemies…that was even better.

With a grin, Rita went back to the balcony and stood at the edge. She looked lovingly at her wand before throwing it down to Earth. She moved back to her telescope.

This was going to be good.

* * *

The rangers watched, stunned as Rita's wand flew out of the sky and embedded itself in the ground by Goldar. The ruby gem in the middle of the wand started to glow, sending red energy across the ground and into Goldar. They watched as the energy took over Goldar's body and it caused him to grow, standing stories over them. Goldar laughed evilly, now being taller it echoed across the city, the booming vocals causing the rangers to hold their hands over their ears.

"Oh my god," Kimberly breathed as she lowered her hands. She started to back up, away from the monster that was heading towards them. Trini, Billy, Zack, and Avalon followed her lead, but Jason held his ground.

"Guys, we can do this," he reassured them. He turned back to Goldar. "Back off, fang face!"

"The good guys are here!" Zack added.

"Get off our planet!" Billy said.

"Because we're the power rangers!" Trini said.

"And we're not backing down!" Kimberly said.

"Not without a fight!" Avalon concluded.

"Let's see if this really works," Jason muttered to himself. He gathered all of his courage and threw a hand into the air. "Let's bring the zords together. We need Dinozord power, now!" The ground started to rumble, the waves increasing in speed and size as their zords came from all corners of the earth to get to their masters. The rangers then leapt up and entered the cockpits of their zords, instantly getting a feel for how the zords were to be run. Jason was amazed at the feeling, it was as if he knew everything that he was supposed to do before he did it, like the zord was made especially for him.

He piloted his zord as the tyrannosaurus, triceratops, mastodon, saber-tooth tiger, and pterodactyl zords all came together to create the Dinozord. He looked to the side to see Avalon's Stegosaurus zord running at its side as they both headed towards Goldar, who was waiting for them.

"Avalon, your zord can't attach to the other ranger's but it can be used as a useful weapon against your enemies," Alpha explained.

"No worries, Alpha," Avalon replied. "We can handle this creep!"

"All right you guys, let's do this!" Jason declared. He pressed a button on the panel in front of him and the zords all let out an electric energy and it shot out towards Goldar. "Oh yeah!" Jason cheered, throwing ahand into the air. "Zap 'im again!" The zord let out another blast of energy that hit Goldar in the chest, knocking him back to the ground.

"Stegostrike!" Avalon's zord started to spin in a circle, collecting energy as it went. "Fire!" Her zord shot forward and smacked Goldar in the chest knocking him back even further.

"Way to go, Avalon!" Trini cried.

"It's up to you guys," Avalon replied.

"No problem." Jason pressed a few buttons on the front of his panel and then grabbed onto the control sticks that sat at the end of the arms of his chair. "Initiating Battle Mode!" The Dinozord pulled itself upright and Kimberly's pterodactyl zord flew from the skies and attached to its chest. "Power Sword!" In a flash of light, a sword appeared from the sky and landed in the Dinozord's hands. Using the controls on their side, Kimberly and Zack directed the zord's arms to swing the sword around.

Goldar scowled. "I'll be back, rangers!" And disappeared in front of their eyes.

"Yeah!" The rangers cheered.

* * *

Rita's smile of excitement turned into another scream of fury. When Goldar appeared at her side, she picked up her wand and hit him in the face and stomach with it. Goldar backed away from her, holding onto his wounds. She picked up her wand and aimed it at him, looking like she was going to zap him with her magic energy. Goldar, however, knew that he was too big an asset to be vaporized. He had nearly defeated the power rangers, if they hadn't called on their zords, they wouldn't have had a problem. He knew she recognized that.

Instead, Rita turned and smacked Squatt with the end of her wand and let out another scream. Her plan…ruined by a bunch of teenagers who had no idea what they were doing. Zordon had gotten smart the time that she had been away. That much was obvious. _No matter, _Rita thought slowly allowing herself to calm down. _That means that I just have to work harder. _She was going to see the power rangesr destroyed, even if she had to do it herself.

"Goldar, don't fail me again!" She screamed at him. "OR YOU'LL LIVE TO REGERET IT!" With that, she turned on her heel and left the lab. She needed to lie down.

She was beginning to get a headache.

* * *

The scene that unfolded on the viewing globe filled the Command Center with pride. It had been a risky move, having teenagers be the power rangers this time, but it wasn't something that Zordon and Alpha had any choice over. Throughout the years they had been around, the rangers had been anything but human. And the first time that they had chosen humans to lead the battle against evil, they had chosen the stage of humans that had the most problems with self-esteem, their families, their friends, their love lives, and their futures. It was a risky choice, Alpha knew that from the very beginning, even telling Zordon that himself. But Zordon seemed to think that they were the ones that could really save them all. It looked to be that way, if that battle proved anything. Nonetheless, there was still the nagging feeling in him, that they may have made a grave mistake.

"Alpha, teleport the rangers back to the Command Center," Zordon instructed. Alpha looked up at his friend, glad to see a smile on his fac. Their plan had worked, the rangers had used the power and they were going to be the ones that would defeat Rita and her minions once and for all.

Then things could go back to the way they were, before…

Alpha shook his head. There was no time to think of that now.

"Right away, Zordon," he said and turned to a control panel, pushing buttons in a specific sequence. Moments later, the rangers appeared back in the Command Center sans their power suits. They all started talking at once about the battle they had just been in. Avalon stood off to the side, staring hard at the ground, a troubled expression on her face.

"You have done a fine job today," Zordon said, getting their attention. "Now that you have the power, there are a few rules that you have to follow to be able to use the power correctly and to have it protect you at all costs."

"Should have seen that coming," Avalon remarked.

"What are the rules?" Trini asked, tilting her head back to look at the floating morphological being.

"Firstly, you should never use your power for personal gain or for personal gain as well as secondly never escalate a battle unless Rita forces you to. Either of those rules being broken with potentially cause our existence to be revealed and the world isn't ready for it yet."

"Angel Grove just got attacked by a monster and you think the world isn't ready to know about a floating head and a rust bucket? Zack snorted. Kimberly frowned and smacked him on the arm. Zack let out a cry of pain and rubbed the spot. He had mostly been joking, but he had a point. How could anyone forget about the giant monster that had just revealed itself? And what would happen if someone got caught up in the moment and did the very same things Zordon warned them about.

Maybe they weren't cut out for this…

"And finally, you may not let your identities be known," Zordon concluded. Avalon's head shot up at that, her eyes resting on Zordon intently. "There will be dire consequences if that rule is broken."

"Hold up!" Zack raised a hand into the air. "All of the rules…everything that just happened…how do we know that we're really able to do this? I mean, we may have gotten lucky this time, that dude just disappeared, who knows what could have happened if he continued to fight with us."

"In a battle such as this one, there's no such thing as luck," Zordon reassured him. "The six of you were chosen by the powers for a reason and you have exhibited that reason quite clearly. When you're all together, you create a unstoppable team."

"Just have faith Zack," Alpha added. "We know that this is very confusing, but you need to have faith that you can do this." Zack looked over at Alpha and slowly smiled as he nodded.

"You all need to rely on each other as the world is relying on you," Zordon continued.

"That convinced me," Jason said with a grin. "I'm in."

"Me too," Trini agreed.

"You can count on me," Zack said.

"Affirmative," Billy added.

"I don't know…" All eyes turned to Kimberly and her nose was wrinkled as she thought about it. "I mean, what if Zack's right we did, like get lucky today. What if Rita's other monsters are stronger? What are we going to do then?" She lifted the ends of her hair with her fingers. "And then that helmet…" her upper lip started to curl. "It really messed up my hair and it'll take forever to get back to normal." She dropped it and shrugged. "I'm not sure I can do this." As Jason, Trini, Billy, Zack, and Alpha all started to protest, hoping that she'd change her mind, she turned her head away, her lips twitching. She tired her hardest to fight it, but it came out anyway. Kimberly burst out laughing as she turned back to her friends. "Not!" She cried, psyching them out.

"Way to give us a heart attack, Kim," Trini said, putting her arm around Kimberly's shoulders.

Avalon shook her head and turned on her heel, slowly walking out of the Command Center, her boots clomping on the ground as she went. The other rangers watched as she walked out of the center, disappearing around the corner.

"Ay yi yi yi yi! What about Avalon, Zordon?" Alpha turned back to his friend. "We're not going to stand a chance without all of the rangers."

"Give her time, Alpha, it's as we said already, this is a confusing time for everyone," Zordon reassured him. "We all must hope that she realizes that's been given her and that she'll respect the power as well as aid the other rangers in their battle against Rita."

"You can count on us, Zordon," Jason said.

* * *

"Hey!" Avalon hurried up to Chase. He cut her a look and she lowered her voice as he glanced around the street corner, checking to see if anyone was watching. She followed his gaze. No cop cars, no undercovers, it looked like the coast was clear. She slid her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket, her fingers brushing over the money he had passed out earlier and the switchblade she kept on her at all times. Her fingers curled around the switchblade, preparing herself.

"Ready?" Chase turned his cold gaze back to her.

"Ready."

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

**A/N: **Chapters will be longer from now on, the first few needed to be a bit short so that I could start some story plots.

-**Avalon**


	4. How quickly these conversations

**Chapter 03**

* * *

"Avalon, wake up!"

Bailey shook Avalon's shoulder in a few second intervals, pausing for a moment to see if her sister was rousing. When that didn't work, she backed up a few paces and took a running start, leaping on top of her older sister. "Ow!" Like a loaded spring, Avalon shot up, knocking her sister off o her. "How many times have I told you to stop doing that?"

Bailey, who had been tossed back by Avalon's movement, laughed, rolling over until she reached the edge of the bed. Swinging her legs to the floor, she stood up, using both hands to shark her dark brown hair out of her equally dark eyes. She pushed her glasses up her freckled nose, her cheeks bunching up as she grinned. "Too many for you to count," she returned. "It's not my fault that you're going to be late for school if you don't get up soon." Avalon rolled her eyes, yawning and rubbing at her face as Bailey pressed her index finger to her chin. "Who was the one that told me that punctuality was the staple of good characteristics?"

"Dad?" Avalon grabbed her blankets and pulled them back over her head.

"No!" Bailey grabbed onto the blankets and tugged back. She let out a startled gasp when Avalon pulled harder, propelling her forward. "_You _did!" After one more tug, which made a ripping sound, Bailey dropped the fabric and backed away as quickly as possible. A peculiar frown slid onto her face. "Dad hasn't been around…"

"Don't remind me, Bay," Avalon mumbled. She pushed her blankets off of her head and swung herself out of bed. "Don't fucking remind me," she muttered under her breath, walking over to her dresser.

With a sharp tug, she pulled it open, knocking over a photograph that was on top. Avalon turned it over and dismissed it, not bothering to put it back in its former position. Bailey walked over to the dresser and picked up the photo herself. Avalon couldn't stand to look at it again; having to see the smiling faces—frozen in time—of her parents on a good day, was like a slap in the face. They weren't around anymore, for whatever selfish reasons of their own, leaving Avalon and Bailey by themselves. Every time she looked at it, it would bring up the questions she did and didn't want answered. Why did they leave? Why haven't they come back? What was going to happen now? What if someone found out? What if, what if, what if?

There were too many factors that would create disappointing outcomes she didn't want to begin to think about. Avalon grabbed onto the picture frame, wrenching it from Bailey's hands, and placed it face down on the dresser once more. Avalon glanced at her sister, and her face softened. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"Yeah, and I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and have my backpack ready for school," Bailey said. She leaned against the dresser, watching her sister zoom around her room, gathering all of her things together, jumping into her clothes as she went through the motions. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'll get something in the caf, yeah?" Avalon reached behind her head and quickly gathered her hair together in a ponytail. With a few flicks of her wrists, she twisted it up into a leather band before leaning over to shove her feet into her boots. "C'mon, I'll walk you to school." Standing up, she shouldered her backpack.

"You don't have to," Bailey protested. She started to walk towards the door to Avalon's room. "I can walk myself."

"What with Chase and the others being out there…" Avalon trailed off. Bailey didn't need her to finish the thought, she knew exactly what her sister was talking about. Even without the monster attacks Angel Grove wasn't as safe of a city as the media made it out to be.

"Fine." Bailey turned to leave, then stopped, her eyes caught by something. "What's that?" Pointing, Bailey hurried over to Avalon's bedside table. Avalon followed her gaze and her blood ran cold when she noticed the power morpher still sitting there. Zordon had said that she couldn't tell anyone else…and while she didn't believe in most of what Zordon was saying, or that she had to work with those other rangers while she was better off alone, telling Bailey about what was going on was going to open up another can or worms. It was just more danger that she was bringing to her sister, the guilt alone with what she was already doing, before getting mixed up in the power rangers stuff, was bad enough. "Wow." Bailey picked it up and looked it over.

"Yeah, it's kinda cool, I guess," Avalon murmured, shoving her leather jacket into her backpack.

"Where'd you get it?" Bailey continued to run her fingers over the golden power coin in the center. Even as she gazed at it, it seemed to have a dull orange glow. When Avalon didn't answer, Bailey lifted her head and looked over the rim of her glasses at her sister. Avalon reached over and took the power morpher from her.

"Where d'you think?" She shoved it into her backpack. "C'mon." With a small smile, she placed a hand on Bailey's shoulder and pushed her out the door. "I can be late for school, but I'm not going to let you turn into a delinquent too."

* * *

Billy yawned, putting down his pliers to rub his face. His glasses became skewed and he took them off before rubbing at his face once more. He set the aiding items aside and yawned once more, this time it was so hard that tears came to his eyes. Wiping them away, Billy replaced his glasses and leaned forward, hovering over the metal, plastic, and electric pieces in front of him. All he had to do was twist a few wires together and he was finally done. The other five watch-like devices were completed, he just needed to finish this last one…

"Billy?"

Billy looked up as the door to the garage opened and his father stepped into the rectangle of light that spilled out across the concrete floor. Mr. Cranston looked at his watch and then raised his gaze to the blue ranger. "You're going to be late for school if you don't get going now."

"I know, Dad, I know," Billy glanced at his watch and started working faster. "I had to get up early to be sure that I could finish my latest experiment." Looking at his father out of the corner of his eye, Billy placed the faceplate on top of the watch-like device and smiled as the small red buttons quickly enlightened. Perfect. "I won't be late, I promise."

"How early did you get up?"

"Four or so," Billy said. He started to gather up the left over materials, mentally wondering what would be the best use for them later. He made sure to shield his newest invention from his father, if he was asked about it, he wasn't sure what sort of lie he would come up with. He was a scientist, he dealt with facts, not lies. "But this was for the science club and I was falling a little behind with my other schoolwork, and I assured I would get it in today, so…"

"Spoken like a true scientist," Mr. Cranston chuckled. "I'm proud of you, son, but try not to make a convention of this, you need to get as much as sleep as you can. You're still growing up."

"Affirmative." Billy smiled and nodded. "I'll get going now." Billy gathered up his inventions and carefully bound them together with a rubber band before placing them in his backpack. "Goodbye, Dad. I'll see you later." Billy pulled his backpack onto his shoulders and slipped by his father into the house. He grabbed his lunch off of the counter, giving a quick smile and a wave to his mother, then hurried out the front door.

Walking down the sidewalk towards school, he thought about what had happened the days before. Being in the command center, getting their powers, being told that they were going to be the ones that saved Angel Grove. Billy was excited for it. If it wasn't for the fact that he had a new scientific venture to embark on, it was to show everyone that he could do just as much as Jason or Zack could do. Having the city be placed on his shoulders was a little worrying, hence his hesitation at taking the powers at the first instance, however as soon as he went into action, he knew it was what he was supposed to be doing. What he was meant to be doing.

Billy placed a hand on his backpack, where his communicators sat in the mesh pocket, jingling along with him as he went. He wasn't the strongest of the most diligent when it came to fighting, but he could help in other ways. That's why he made the communicator as a means to talk to Alpha and Zordon, so that they weren't teleported out of random places—how where they supposed to keep their secret if there was a chance that they would turn into energy in the middle of a family dinner-or had putties attack them out of nowhere. He expected as much, on that walk to school; every step he took, every street corner he came to, he would look over his shoulder to be sure he wasn't being followed.

"Are you OK? You look like you're being attacked by bees, yeah?"

Billy turned back to the front to see Avalon and a younger girl standing in front of him, waiting for the street light to change so they could cross safely. Billy looked down the street from where they came before turning back to them with a smile and a nod. "Just being careful," he explained.

"Ignore her." Avalon tilted her head down to the young girl. "She doesn't think before she talks."

"Neither do you!" The girl shot back.

"Yeah, but at least people care what I have to say," Avalon returned. She glanced at Billy out of the corner of her eye but didn't say anything else. Billy waited for some sort of introduction, but didn't have to wait long as the young girl turned to Billy, holding out her hand.

"I'm Bailey." She shook Billy's hand firmly. "Av doesn't have any manners, you'll have to excuse her." Rolling her eyes, Avalon reached out and tugged Bailey's ponytail, causing the girl to give a slight shriek and reach out her hands, pushing her sister back. "At least she's nice enough to walk me to school."

"Right, both of you are new around here." Billy motioned towards the street light as it turned white, signaling that they could start walking across the street. He shifted his backpack to his other shoulder, listening as the communicators jingled together. He briefly thought about them, wondering when he was going to be able to give them to the others without other people seeing them and wondering what it was for. _Keeping things a secret is going to be tougher than I thought. _"How are you finding Angel Grove so far?"

"It's alright," Bailey said with a shrug. Her cheeks reddened when Billy turned his attention to her. "Not much has happened around here so far."

"Angel Grove is a great place to live," Billy insisted. "It just takes a while to get used to living here. If you haven't been able to check things out-"

"We've lived here for a while, mate, thanks," Avalon interrupted gruffly. She, as she had been walking in front of Billy and Bailey, stopped and turned back to look at them. Her dark eyes were narrowed into slits as she examined Billy form head to toe. Her upper lip curled and in that moment, Billy wasn't sure if he was talking to the same person that had jumped right into the fight with the putties along with the other rangers. It was like she was a completely different person. "We just haven't gone to school around here. We were homeschooled."

"That must have been interesting," Billy said. "I always wondered, statistically, what the advantages of it was."

"It's alright," Avalon said dismissively. The conversation died after that. The three walked along in silence and except for Avalon saying goodbye to her sister when they reached Angel Grove middle school, the walk to Angel Grove high was still quiet. Once they reached the school's front lawn, Avalon broke away from Billy's side, walking into the school at a quick paced stride, looking over her shoulder as she went, before ducking her head and disappearing inside.

Billy twisted his mouth to the side.

He figured now that they were all in this together, this thing with the Command Center, Alpha, Zordon, and Angel Grove, she would have been a bit friendlier. He remembered the way that she had shaken her head and just walked out of the Command Center, as if it wasn't something she wanted, something she didn't believe in. Zordon said that they had to wait and see what time would do for her decision to be with them.

How long were they going to have to wait?

* * *

Trini couldn't concentrate in any of her classes that day. It was too difficult, she was expecting to suddenly be transformed into a beam of yellow energy, feel that familiar rush go through her body, and be sent to the Command Center to find Alpha and Zordon ready to tell them what sort of monster was destroying the city that time, or what Rita had planned. The million thoughts running through her mind made it so that she didn't listen too much of what Billy was saying to her either. Something about creating a device using a microwave? That might have been it. But who could concentrate on something like that when there was a new sense of…weight on their shoulders? She never thought she would be the kind of person that would have that amount of responsibility. She was used to school responsibility and family responsibility, but saving a whole city? That was something she never saw coming.

So being able to spend some time in Ernie's, practicing marital arts to take her mind off of it was something that she really needed. When it came to martial arts, taekwondo, judo, tai-chi, even praying mantis style, it required your full concentration. If any outside thoughts came into your head, you were allowing your opponent to find the easiest ways to get to you, to find your weakness and use it against you at the most opportune moment. Sucking in a deep breath, Trini spread her arms out in front of her, slightly leaning on her right leg to take on her weight for the transitioning move. As she did her movements, behind her, a group of about six other teenagers followed her.

Now, releasing the breath, Trini turned, spinning on her left foot, and lifted her foot up into her body until it was resting on her right thigh, pressing as hard as she could, to balance. Slowly, she extended her foot out and spread out her arms once more. As she did the moves, her eyes moved around the Youth Center, taking in the teenagers, young adults, and adults that milled around; lifting weights, taking classes, drinking smoothies, or talking to each other as they sat down. Others went in and out of the locker rooms, talking and laughing to others as they went. Strange to think that just a few days before a monster attack caused the evacuation of the city, and now here everyone was again, as if nothing happened. Who knows what would have happened without the power rangers…without _them. _Rita would have taken over the city, claiming innocent victims as she went.

_And it would have been our fault, _Trini reasoned. _That's why the power chose us. It knew that we would take the responsibility and be able to save the city. _Something caught her eye and Trini lowered her arms. Across the youth center, she could see Kimberly, Zack, and Jason walk over the padded mats and towards a climbing rope that was hanging from the ceiling. Trini's stomach moved to the side and, turning to dismiss her students, she grimaced a little. Curiosity getting the best of her, she headed over to her friends.

"C'mon Jase, you can do it," Kimberly was saying as she approached. Zack, standing behind her with a large grin on his face, nodded encouragingly at his best friend.

"Yeah, go get em'!"

Jason flashed that familiar smile of his that was one half confidence, the other half reassurance, and pulled leather gloves onto his hands. Flexing his fingers for a moment, he nodded over at Trini, before reaching his hands up above his head. With a quick jumped, he latched onto the rope and started to climb. Trini's stomach seized once more, her muscles tensing. What if he fell? "Be careful, Jason!" She called helpfully. "Don't look down!"

"He knows what he's doing, Trini," Zack said. His head was tilted back, his eyes still on his best friend. Hands placed on his hips, he shook his head in awe as the red ranger continued to scale the rope, moving quicker and quicker as the seconds passed. "Don't put any ideas in his head, or he'll come crashing back down."

"Come on!" Kimberly continued to clap.

Trini waved an arm at her best friend. "Feeding his ego will make his head swell," she said. "And if he falls, he could really hurt himself." She raised her hands into a spotting position, lightly backing up so she could keep a good eye on Jason.

Jason, who had heard the conversation from above them, briefly stopped climbing to look down at them. He flashed them a smile, then looked up to see how much he had left to climb. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Trini," he said. "But I know what I'm doing." He glanced down at her again—giving her what looked like a mischievous smile—and his hands slipped, knocking him down a few inches. Trini gasped and instinctively shut her eyes, turning her head away.

He was going to fall, she knew it! He was going to crash into the ground and really hurt himself and she could do nothing to help him. Trini's hands started to shake, and her stomach slowly moved towards her throat. How strange was it, she was more worried about Jason getting hurt by falling off a stupid rope rather than getting hurt by one of Rita's monsters. _If we hadn't have gotten the zords, we could have been killed by Goldar_, she reminded herself. Once she heard Kimberly and Zack clapping again, Trini looked up to see that Jason had caught himself and was now starting to climb once more.

She took another step back. "Uh guys, I-I'm going to be over there, ok?" Lowering her arms to her sides, Trini headed over to a weight machine. "As far away from this as possible."

"Oh lighten up, Trini," Zack said with a good natured grin. "It's just a stupid rope climb. Why don't you try after Jason's done? Then you won't feel so anxious about it."

"Huh! No thanks!" Trini laughed. "There's no way in hell I'm going up there." As if to settle the matter, she plopped down onto a chest press machine and grabbed onto the handles, pushing them together and releasing them as the weights resisted against her. She watched as Kimberly and Zack exchanged glances and went back to watching Jason. It wasn't her fault that she wanted to be cautious. What good was anyone going to be at a time like this if they severely injured themselves? As she watched, Billy walked into the Youth Center and went over to his friends. He started saying something to them and above him, Jason slowly started to lower himself down the rope. Even from where she was sitting, Trini could see the mischievous glint in Jason's eye.

"Billy, watch out!" "Billy, heads up!" Trini and Jason called at the same time. Jason moved quicker than Billy could react and dropped heavily onto his shoulders. Billy cried out and started to thrash around, his momentum causing the two to swing back and forth as Jason was still holding onto the climbing rope. They moved so fast that whomever came too close to them was knocked over. Even Bulk, Skull, and Avalon, who had entered the Youth Center managed to get a bit too close. Bulk and Skull jumped backwards, but Avalon was stuck in the side, sending her to the floor.

Trini gasped as Jason finally managed to lose his grip on the rope and he and Billy went crashing to the floor, skidding to a stop by her feet.

"That's not funny guys!" She scolded them as Jason chuckled a little. Zack and Kimberly hurried over and helped the two boys to their feet. "Someone could have gotten seriously hurt." She turned to Billy and started to look him over. "Are you ok?"

"I believe so," Billy fumbled his glasses before looking himself up and down. "No abrasions or contusions."

"Why don't you watch where you're going next time?!" Avalon snapped as she got up from the floor. She checked her arms and legs, pushing up the sleeves to her jacket as she did so, showing off an intricate looking 'V' tattoos on the inside of her right wrist. "You don't actually own the place, you know?"

"It was an accident," Jason said sheepishly. "I didn't see you, I'm sorry."

Avalon opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Bulk and Skull pushing their way into the conversation. Trini's upper lip curled once she caught sight of them. She could still feel their hands on her body and it made her shuddered to even think about it. They always seemed to be around to mess with them and she never saw the reason for it; they always ended up humiliated in the end, no matter how often they were warned.

"The accident is thinking that you're the only one that can climb a stupid rope," Bulk said. He reached out and poked Jason in the chest, pushing him back a few steps. "Money-boy," he taunted. Jason crossed his arms over his chest and looked evenly at Skull.

"I can make it to the top," he said calmly. "I haven't seen you do that before Bulk." HA stoic look was still on his face as Bulk's lips twisted into a sneer. Even Skull, who was a bit more lighthearted than Bulk, sneered back at the red ranger.

"So watch and learn," Bulk said. He cracked his knuckles and walked back over to the climbing rope. The rangers followed behind, watching with varying degrees of interested. Bulk made a show of spitting into his hands and rubbing them together. Trini's lips started to quiver as she followed the length of the rope to the ceiling. It swayed back and forth lightly, holding still when it reached the ceiling. The movement of the braided rope made the ceiling appear to be moving back and forth as well. A bitter taste reached her tongue and Trini moved a hand over her mouth just in case. She lowered her eyes back down to Bulk.

"Watch and learn," Skull parroted.

Bulk finished rubbing his hands together and jumped up to grab onto the rope. The miscalculation of his jump combined with his excess weight caused him to grab onto the rope and fall flat to the floor. Trini giggled a little as Bulk landed flat on is back, bringing the rope down from the ceiling with him. She took a step back as a hole appeared in the ceiling above him, cascading him with dust and ceiling tile.

"Huh." Avalon muttered. She smirked down at Bulk. "Walks, talks, and acts like a dick. Should've seen that coming." Bending over, she and Skull grabbed onto Bulk's arm and helped him up to his feet amidst the other ranger's laughter.

"Shut up!" Bulk barked. He wrenched his arms out of Avalon's and Skull's grasp and stalked out of the Youth Center. Skull dutifully followed him. Avalon glanced at the rangers, checked the pager on her hip that was now starting to beep, and followed after them at a quicker pace, going to the left down the hallway as opposed to the right.

Trini sighed and went back to her workout.

They didn't understand.

* * *

"Those power brats are going to regret crossing me!" Rita paced back and forth on her balcony, twisting and turning her wand in her hands. Every now and then she would clench her hands around the magic wand just as hard as she clamped her teeth together. "They got lucky the last time, they're not going to beat me again! Zordon can try whatever he wants but he's not going to win!"

Rita turned and aimed her magic wand at the wall. With a scream of pure fury she shot an energy beam at the wall. It erupted, sending dust and shards of drywall, metal, and concrete in all directions, leaving a massive crate in its wake.

Rita smiled to herself. _Now if only I could do that to one of the power rangers' heads._

* * *

**A/N: **I intended this chapter to be longer, but it didn't turn out that way. Woops. I wanted to show a bit more of the rangers' hesitation about their new developments, plus I think it helps with characterization. I'm also trying to figure out how much of this should be from Avalon's POV considering most of my other story _All The Blame _is in her POV.

I hope that's not too confusing.

-**Avalon**


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